March 18th, 2009

Reports the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health has proposed – and Mayor Nutter appears likely to include in his budget presentation tomorrow – new fees on a sliding scale for patients without health insurance.

With a budget gap looming and the clinics already stretched, however, how can the Health Department afford not to charge everyone at least something?

Officials say that the clinics have been free because most of their patients, even those with insurance, have little money. But they concede that the practice of not collecting co-pays must be revisited.

“Once you begin to charge one group, you need to look at how you charge every group,” said Tom Storey, director of ambulatory health services, as the clinics are known internally.

Health Commissioner Donald F. Schwarz’s proposal on fees, posted on the mayor’s budget Web site, calls for “new sliding-scale fees for uninsured,” with estimated revenue of just over $1 million.

Read an in-depth report on the issue at the Inquirer.